Circuit-breaker.



E. W. STULL.

CIRCUIT BREAKER.

APPLICATION FILED NOV.16,1912.

Patented Nov. 3, 1914 TNE NORRIS PEYERS co PNOT'O-LITNQ. WASNINGIDN. a.c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EMME'IT W. STULIi, OF WILKINSBURG. PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE AS-SIGNMENTS, TO ALLIS-CHALMERS MANUFACTURING COMPANY, A CORPORATION OFDELAWARE.

CIRCUIT-BREAKER.

Patented Nov. 3, 1914..

Original application filed May 29, 1911, Serial No. 630,150. Divided andthis application filed November 16, 1912. Serial No. 731,887. v

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EMMETT W. STULL, a citizen of the United States,residing at VVilkinsburg, in. the county of Alleghenyand State ofPennsylvania, have invented a certain new and. useful Improvement inCircuit-Breakers, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to electricaleontrol.

systems, especially to such systems as are intended for operation fromseparate sources of different potential. I,

For reasons 50f economy, it has been found desirable to use highervoltages for the operation of interurban electric railways than arepermissible for the ordinary city-rail-- ways. The common'voltage usedin cities is about 600. By using double that voltage, or 1200volts,,for.interurban service, a great saving'in copper .or in thenumber of sub stations anay be effected. ;Since most-interurban;cars,are'al so; used more .or less for city service; it becomesnecessary in most cases to arrange the electrical apparatus on the carswhich are used on suchhigher voltage interurban systemsso that they maybe used on the lower voltage city systems. 5

In co-pending application filed-May 29, 1911, Serial No. 630,150, ofwhich this appli cation is a division, a control system is'de-' scribedas applied to the operation of the motors'and auxiliary apparatus on acar of an electric railway system, .whereby the car can be efficientlyoperated. on sections of the line supplied atdifi'crent potentials. 1 f;The above mentioned co-pending-application describes means whereby theavoltage impressed on the motonterminals and the terminals-of theauxiliary apparatus is al ways that of the lowzvoltage section of theline, and further describes special means for preventing the use of aset of connections unsuitable for the supplied circuit.

The objects of the present invention are, generally, to provide meansfor safeguard ingthe electrical apparatus used on the car, and,specifically, to provide a simple and efficient type of no-voltagecircuit breaker for said apparatus.

Thevariousnovel features of the invention will appear from thedescription and drawings and will be particularly pointed out in theclaims;

In the drawings; Figurel is a view in ratus when the car ison thehighgvoltage or low voltagesection of the line.

The trolley wire or third rail' hashighand low voltage sections 22, and23 respectively. The current from either section may be. supplied to thecar through a trolley or; collector 24. Each car may be operated separately or there may be a number. of carscon trolled in common andoperated together in a train. On eachlcar are'aplurality of mo-.. torsM, M, arranged onelor more'groups. of two, but one group beingshown. Thetwo motors forminga group :are connected in series for high voltage.opei'ation and in parallel for low. voltage.--; These connections areobtained a combined series J parallel and reversing switch 25,21 portionof which is shown diagrammaticallyin Fig; :20 This switch also reversesthe relative direction of current throughthe ifield windings andarmatures of such motors to obtain the desired direction of movement ofthecar and is specifically described in co -pending application referredto above. a

In the controlling circuitsisa circuitbrealrer 82, biased to openposition. When moved to closed position it is held there by a magnet 83,which becomes denergized upon failure of voltage for any reason andallows the circuit-breaker to open. IVhen open, 'the circuit-breaker isheld in open position by a latch 84, which is not released until themagnet 83 is again energized; when the circuit-breaker may be closed byhand. The magnet 83 is in series with the operating solenoid of the maincircuitbreaker 85, an overload switch 86, and the switch 87 and itsoperating solenoid. In shunt to the switch 87 is the solenoid 88 of thedouble-throw switch 89. The solenoid of the switch 87 is so wound thatwhen the trolley 24 is on a low voltage section of the line the switch87 remains in its lower or closed position, thus short-circuiting thesolenoid 88, and when the trolley 24 passes to a high voltage sectionthe switch 87 is opened by its operating solenoid, thus throwing currentthrough the solenoid 88 to v the .circuitrbreaker This causes thecircuit hreaker's'fii, a'nd585 to open, f thus disco necting aIl'.ci'rcuits save f-hat including thcceil'ofmagnet 83". The passing of thetrolley theseetion 9Q thus'disconnects any motors thaitf may have beenconnected forioperati-h f'the car. The insulated section 90 is'paralleed ashort section '91,. which is preferably" 'tfnnectcd to the lowvoltage sectidii l23; The section 91fis forthe purposeof allowing the,energization of the rious"circuits the 'car' in case the car should}with the trolley on the secother wh'enfth'e cards on. a low voltagesecof the li'r'iel circuits supply-the inotor eon troldevicesjfand theother an. :iliary 'apparatus'on the'car, as specifically de scribedirii' dopending' applications Serial i No. 630,150, filed. May 29, 1911, and Serial to. the. line.

arrow is'iadapted in its'upper posip .1 the core 19 also provided withanoff-set extion to 'connect terimnaLQQ- to the line and in its lowerposition to connect terminallOl Assume that a car has hecncperating onthe low voltage section 23. In order for it to so operatelt hc switch 89is'down and the switches 43 and 25:11? in low rnltage position, theformer to connect contacts 101 and 201 and the latter to connect. themotors M. \Vhen the trolley leavesE M, in parallel. p the section 23 andengages the section SlOJhc various circuits are deiiucrgized in the maniner already described; hen the trolley reaches thehigh voltage section22. the circuit including the magnet 83 is energized, thus releasing thelatch 81, closing the (11'- cuit-breaker 85, lifting the switch 87, andi throwing current through the solenoid 88 to caiiseit to raise theswitch 89. of the latch 84 permits thetnanual closing of thecircuit-breaker 82. The closing of this circuit-breaker and the liftingcf the switch 89supplies the potential of the section 22 to thecontacts)? "on the switch 43. The motorman now. turns the switch 43 bymeans of the handle 44 to move the switch from low voltage position tohigh voltage The lifting position, connecting contacts 92 and 93, thusenergizing the circuit 9 1 which supplies the motor-controlling devicesand the auxiliary apparatus. The car can now be started on operation ofthe motor-control system as described in my copending applications.referred to above. In case of an overload at any time, the overloadcoil 'IOGliEt-s its core and closes the switch 86. This short-circuitsthe operating solenoid of the circuitbreaker 85, causing the opening oisuch circuit-breaker. Thisintcrrupts all motor circuits. breaker thisarcing may be suppressed .in any suitable manner. hen the car passes toa low voltage section 23, the- .switches 87, 89, drop to their lowerpositions, thus connecting the c0ntact1Gto the trolley;

The circuit breaker 82", shown in enlarged formin Fig. 1, comprisesfixed and movable contacts 11 and 12, respectively, 'and'elee'trdmagnetic means for controlling the operation of 'the' movablecontact. Theelectro magnet' 83 comprises a core member consisting-of twoarms bent at angle to each other; An energizing coil 14 is mounted onone of these arms and to the extremity of the other arm" is pivoted an-'ann-' 16 of magnetic material'to one end of which movable contact 121'ssecured. The other end of the arm '16 is provided with a handle-17 formanually operating the'circuit-breakeri The end of the core adjaccntthec'oill t'is'pr'oportion of thearm 16 is adapted to be heldwhen the coil14 is energized. This endof i tension 19 with which the end'of a pivotedlatch 84, of magnetic material, is adapted to engage. One convenientmanner of supporting the circuit-breaker partsis shown in Fig. 1, inwhich the core and the fixed contact 11 are rigidly secured to aninsulating base20. The latch Si is also shown as being pivoted to thisbase. The core 83, the fixed contact 1 11, and the latch 84are'so'positioned rela tively to each other that the movable contact E12 properly engages fixed contact 11 when the pivoted arm 16 is heldagainst the pole I face 18, and that the pivoted latch 84 engages a pinon the arm 16 when the movable contact 12 is in full open position tofirmly secure the parts in open circuit relation, and further, that theend of the movable latch 84 may be attracted by and engage the coreextension 19. The insulating support 20 with the attachedcircuit-breaker may he positioned within a casing 21 to properly protectthe circuitbreaker parts.

As shown in Fig. l, the circuit-breaker is in open position with thecircuit through i the coil l open, a condition which will -the highvoltage section of the line by the 4 Any arcing occursat the circuit-'vided with a pole face 18 against which a exist while the trolley 24 ispassing from the section of low voltage 23 to the section of highvoltage 22, or vice versa. \Vhen the trolley 24 is again in engagementwith a live portion of the trolley wire, the coil 14: is energized andthe end of the latch 84 is drawn up to the extension 19 to release thearm 16 bearing the movable contact 12. With the parts in this positionthe contact 12 can be manually moved into engagement with the contact 11and the arm 16 into engagement with the pole face 18, in which positionthe parts are held by magnetic attraction. The parts remain in thisposition until the trolley moves onto an insulating section 90 of theline, at which time the magnet 14, being deenergized, allows the arm 16to drop and move the contact 12 to its normally open position, as shownin Figs. 1 and 2, and further allows the latch 84 to drop intoengagement with the pin on the arm 16. A stop 15 may be provided tolimit the opening movement of the switch to a position in which thelatch 84 will properly engage the pin or projection on the arm 16.

It will be seen that in the form of invention described, gravity aloneis depended upon to move the arm 16 so as to open the circuitbreaker. Itwill be obvious that a spring may be properlypositioned to eitherperform this function alone or to assist the action of gravity for thispurpose.

WVith the circuit-breaker in open position, no automatic action orjarring caused by the motion of the car can move the contacts 11 and 12into engagement. The device disclosed insures that the motorman shallmanually operate this switch before he can op erate the motors or any ofthe auxiliary apparatus on the car.

It should be understood that it is not desired to be limited to theexact details of construction shown and described, for obviousmodifications will occur to a person skilled in the art.

It is claimed and desired to secure by Letters Patent,

1. A circuit-breaker, comprising a contact bearing arm biased to oneposition, a latch for holding said arm in said position, andelectro-magnetic means for releasing said latch and for holding said armin a second position independently of said latch.

2. A circuit-breaker, comprising a contact bearing arm having a portionof magnetic material and biased to one position, a latch for holdingsaid arm in said position, and

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe an electro-magnet for releasing said latch and for holding said armin a second position.

3. A circuit-breaking device comprising a movable contact member, meansfor holding said contact member in one position, and means for releasingsaid holding means and for retaining said contact member in a secondposition independently of said holding means.

4. A circuit-breaker, comprising an electro-magnet having fixed andmovable parts, a contact attached to the movable part, and a latch forholding said movable part away from said fixed part, said fixed partadapted to release said latch and to hold the movable part in engagementwith said fixed part when the electromagnet is energized.

5. In a circuit-breaker, an electro-magnet having fixed and movableparts, and a latch having a portion of magnetic material for holding themovable part in one position, flux through said electro-magnet releasingsaid latch and holding the movable part in the second position.

6. A circuit-breaker, comprising fixed and movable contacts, an arm ofmagnetic material attached to said movable contact, an electro-magnetcomprising a core and a winding therefor, said arm being in engagementwith one pole of said core and movable into engagement with the otherpole. and a latch of magnetic material for holding said arm out ofengagement with said core and adapted to be moved out of latchingposition by said electro-magnet to permit movement of said arm towardsaid second pole.

7. A circuit-breaker, comprising fixed and movable contacts,electro-magnetic means for holding said contacts in engagement andincluding a core and a coil thereon, an arm of magnetic material pivotedto said core, and a latch for holding said arm away from one pole ofsaid core, said pole provided with an offset pole piece adapted toattract said latch, whereby said latch is released and said arm is heldin engagement with said core to hold the switch contacts in engagementwhen the coil is energized.

In testimony whereof, the signature of the inventor is affixed hereto inthe presence of two witnesses.

EMMETT XV. STULL.

Witnesses:

Emma H. STRUBLE, A. YOUNGHANS.

"Commissioner of Patents.

Washington, D. C.

